Articles/News/Events

June 10, 2018

June 10, 2018

We have a very busy furniture program at the Center. It takes many volunteers to keep it running. Calls come in daily offering donations. We then make arrangements to send our truck out to make a pickup if needed. Most of our donations come in from Wilmington and Leland areas , though we do travel further when necessary.

Each day, we have volunteers that interview any guest requesting furniture; we assess their needs and determine if we have any items we can offer them. If we have furniture that suits their needs, we’ll make arrangements to deliver it. They are often quite surprised that not only will we give them furnishings, but we deliver them, too!

Scheduling the activity is a challenging task; we need to find a date that is convenient for the donor or recipient, then we have to compile an itinerary and define a logical route for the truck to travel. The truck runs Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, from about 8:30 – 12, so we try to fit in as much activity as we can to make the best use of our times. Some seasons are busier than others – spring cleaning, prepping for holidays and the Super Bowl all prove to be busy times for donations.

Our truck is driven by a different volunteer driver each of the days, and we ‘hire’ two of our guests to do the labor. It’s called our “Work for Rent” program; we help the worker with an expense to compensate them for their efforts. It is usually towards their rent, or perhaps a utility bill, and we make the payment directly to the vendor on their behalf. This program is funded by our semi-annual yard sales, and sometimes we receive additional funding through grants.

We cannot accept any built-in items such as dishwashers or cabinetry and we have limitations as to the size of items as we have limited space in the truck and at the Center, so we cannot handle king size mattresses, large entertainment centers , china cabinets or overly large TVs . We do ask that all items are clean and in good condition; we do not have the ability to repair or clean furniture or appliances..

Keep us in mind the next time you or a friend have furnishings to donate (please allow ample time for us to schedule a pickup.)